Generic teleological mechanisms (GTMs) are a class of strategic concepts especially useful in adaptive design. GTMs are abstract functional and causal patterns that lead to adaptation strategies for innovative design. Adopts a task-directed approach to learning, and describes a model-based method for learning GTMs from design methods. (Author/DKM)

This "classic" article (1972) in the field of deaf studies includes some interpretive notes for current readers. The article examines the effect of deafness on basic developmental tasks at each of the eight developmental stages of Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development and explains the more successful passage through these…

Examines the relationship between Chickering's vectors and the development of moral reasoning in college students. Results indicate that the developmental tasks of Academic Autonomy, Mature Interpersonal Relationships, and Purpose are closely related to the development of moral maturity, and that identity and moral development are parallel…

Middle adolescents are exposed to environments riddled with potential adversities which pervade their lives, adding to the challenges inherent in their developmental stage. They spend a significant time in school and therefore it is an appropriate context to foster, enhance, and develop emotional, social, and cognitive resilience competencies.…

In this article, the author draws on a study of an after-school initiative serving inner-city high school students to describe and reflect on ways in which apprenticeship-like experiences support work on a variety of developmental tasks. The author describes key dimensions of the apprenticeship experience, discusses challenges faced by…

Tamang and Brahman Nepali children have culturally specific emotion scripts that may reflect different emotion socialization experiences. To study emotion socialization, the child-adult interactions of 119 children (3-5 years old) were observed and 14 village elders were interviewed about child competence in Tamang and Brahman villages. Tamang…

Young adults read not only to experience real-life problems, but also to "escape" from those problems. The two most popular types of novels available to teens are the contemporary realistic problem novel and the formula romance novel. A study examined the incidence of specific adolescent developmental tasks (adolescent problems/concerns)…

Adulthood for females is a complex maturational process, rooted in the mother-daughter relationship. To investigate the dynamics of the mother-daughter relationship and its influence on maturing, 20 women, ranging in age from 30 to 75, were interviewed for 6 to 8 hours over a 1-month period. The subjects were chosen for their self-reflective…

High school students in South Australia were administered in group fashion the pendulum and the chemical color change developmental tasks. The major conclusion of this study is the fact that it is possible to translate into group form, administer, and assess rapidly and with considerable reliability Piagetian problem indicators of developmental…

Presents an investigation of the hypothesis that an increase in the salience of the total class dimension should improve class-inclusion performance. Subjects were 220 children in kindergarten through third grades. (SDH)

A total of 100 children from divorced and separated families were compared with 100 children from intact families in this investigation of ways in which children handle the concepts of family membership and relationships. Children were given two social and two physical tasks: a family identity task; Piaget's interview for determining the…

One of the major developmental tasks of adolescence is establishing a unified self-concept, or identity. Four identity statuses (conceptualized by J. E. Marcia as identity achievement, foreclosure, identity diffused and moratorium) are related to (1) the presence or absence of crisis, and (2) a resulting commitment to goals. To examine the…

This study was designed to determine if: a) attentuation of irrelevant information on a selective attention task would result in increased selective attention, and b) a developmental increase in selective attention would be replicated with the use of a different procedure of data analysis than has been used previously. (Author/CS)

Results of administering Piagetian tests of concrete and formal operations to 6- to 11-year-olds whose IQ's were in excess of 160 support the reality of Piaget's stage structures but suggest that the speed with which tasks within a stage are mastered is a function of intelligence in the psychometric sense. (Author/SDH)

The Montessori approach is briefly described, and modified tasks for educating the handicapped child are outlined. Reviewed is Montessori's influence on five areas of general education: the engineered classroom, individualized instruction, task analysis, nongraded or ungraded classrooms, and humanistic education. Developmental tasks are offered…